Tottenham Hotspur vs Crystal Palace, Premier League – Visitors frustrate
hosts with a resolute display that earned a point and might well have
brought all three

TEAMS

STATISTICS

Off target: Tottenham Hotspur were unable to break the resolve of Crystal PalacePhoto: ACTION IMAGES

By Ben Findon, White Hart Lane

5:00PM GMT 06 Dec 2014

Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, declared himself “not happy” after his team were fortunate to escape defeat against enterprising strugglers Crystal Palace. It was a view shared loudly by thousands of home supporters at the end of this undistinguished draw.

Tottenham followers thought their side might have turned the corner after last weekend’s invigorating defeat of Everton. Not so. The malaise that affected the team in recent home defeats against West Bromwich, Newcastle and Stoke still infects the system.

“We know that Crystal Palace are a physical team and we did not show the freshness we showed against Everton. I was not happy with our performance and the draw is fair,” Pochettino said.

“In nine days we have played four games and this is the problem but Crystal Palace did a good job and it was difficult for us to create many chances. We are frustrated and disappointed.”

Yannick Bolasie was truly a handful, torturing unfortunate Tottenham right-back Eric Dier and in one exquisite moment, somehow conjuring the ball past Christian Eriksen with a magical sleight of foot.

When Erik Lamela dropped back to cover, the Palace winger sprinted after him to spirit away the ball into another Palace attack.

It encapsulated the Palace spirit. Brede Hangeland and Scott Dann were so dominant at the back that Roberto Soldado had just one clear sight of goal all afternoon while Harry Kane, Tottenham’s new 11-goal hero, was largely anonymous.

Mile Jedinak was an authoritative figure in midfield, where Tottenham conspicuously failed to gain any grip. And Bolasie was not the only dangerous Palace raider. Wilfried Zaha was also a threat, and his replacement, Jason Puncheon, came closest to the goal the visitors deserved when he smacked the ball against the crossbar 12 minutes from the end.

That was far from the only chance. James McArthur lashed wide following Bolasie’s corner, Tottenham’s Ryan Mason glanced a header a foot the right side of his own post from another corner by the Palace paceman, then Dann saw a downward header pushed away by home goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

Neil Warnock, the Palace manager, said: “That was probably the most complete performance, though against Liverpool we scored the goals. Today in the dressing room I could tell it was right. we were focused, we knew what we were doing and we wanted to attack them. I thought the game was there to be won today. We know we are limited in certain areas but we believe in ourselves, you could see that.”

Tottenham toiled to create openings, and when they did any accuracy was absent. Soldado steered Eriksen’s pass wide, before Kane then shot over with 20 minutes remaining.

When Tottenham’s electronic scoreboard flashed that Arsenal were 4-0 down at Stoke, it seemed just another case of false cheer for the suffering Spurs fans. They might have missed out on victory, but at least the Palace players’ Christmas party went ahead last night. “I said if they didn’t get a result today they couldn’t go on their Christmas do,” Warnock said. “So that might have been why they gave everything!”